More to Me
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Lilly is a young girl who wants to be seen as an equal. William is a stubborn boy who wants to help his father. Dan is a man who is delivering Ben Wade to Yuma Prison. All three of them want to prove themselves to the world. Together, they will make the journey to Contention where secrets will be exposed, pasts will be revealed, and lives will be forever changed. WilliamxOC
1. William and Lilly

**Special extra amazing tens of thousands of thanks to my best friend Will Cloud for making the amazing cover photo for this story!**

 **And yes, I changed William's age to 16 in this story. Sue me.**

* * *

As William moved across the nearly barren land atop his horse, he hoped that he hadn't been found out yet by his mother back at home. After all, he had snuck out in the dead of night to go find his father who was escorting an extremely dangerous criminal to prison. No doubt she wasn't going to be happy when she found out he was gone. She'd obviously find out eventually, but the later she did, the farther away from the house he could get.

He was about to find a place to settle down for the night, since he was admittedly exhausted, when he spotted another person on their horse as well. When he got closer to the rider, he was quite surprised to discover that it was a girl!

"Hi," she said to him with a small smile on her face when she realized she was no longer alone. "What are you doin' out here so late at night?"

"What are you doin' out here?"

"I asked you first."

"Fine. I'm tryin' to find my pa."

The girl looked a little confused. "He been lost for long?"

"No, it's not like that," William said shortly. Already this girl was getting on his nerves. Why had he come over to talk to her? He should've just kept riding. It would've saved him her annoying chatter. "He needs my help, even if he won't admit it."

"Help with what?"

"Just somethin' he's doin'. Now, it's your turn. What are you doin' out here?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I was tired of my daddy lookin' at me like I don't matter. So I'm wanderin' about, tryin' to make my livin' somewhere."

"Alone?"

"You don't think I can take care of myself? You'd be surprised what I'm capable of." After a pause, she asked, "What's your name anyway?"

"William Evans. I'm 16."

"Name's Lillian. You call me that, I'll gut you like a fish. It's Lilly. And I'm 16 too."

They rode in silence for a little while before William asked, "How long you been out here?"

"Oh, I been travelin' for a couple years now. Sometimes I stay out at night and sometimes people are kind enough to take me in and give me a bed to sleep in for a while. One of these days, I'll find somewhere permanent."

"You shouldn't be out here alone."

"Why? Because I'm a girl?"

"Yes, because you're a girl."

"Oh, so you think I should be sittin' inside stitchin' up little pillows instead of out ridin' my horse? Or wearin' those pretty little dresses with a thousand layers in 100-degree heat rather than my loose and comfortable pants and shirt? Or that I should sit down and be quiet like a good little girl instead of just speakin' whatever comes to my mind? Not a chance."

"Why you gotta be so different than other girls?"

"Why you gotta be the same as every other boy?"

"Stop talkin' like that, will you?"

"You're just mad I have a comeback for everything you say."

"You don't know a thing about me."

"And you don't know a thing about me." When William just rolled his eyes at her, she continued, "You know, William, I reckon you need an attitude adjustment. You have a short fuse."

"Only when annoying little girls say things they shouldn't."

Lilly smiled at him. "I like you. You're not like everyone else I've talked to. You actually say what you're thinkin'. I admire that. But don't ever call me a little girl again or so help me, I will skin you alive. So, William, where you headed?"

William pointed in the direction he was going to ride in. "Followin' the path my pa said he was takin'."

"I'm goin' that way too. I'll keep you company."

"I don't need company," William said. The last thing he wanted was to spend any more time with this girl. She was hitting his last nerve.

"Sure you do," Lilly said, ignoring his shortness towards her. "But right now, I think we should start up a campfire and rest our horses a little bit. Dakota's feelin' a bit worn down."

"You don't get to call the shots here."

"Well fine, do you want to keep goin'?"

"Yes. I want to get to my pa as soon as possible."

"And I understand that, but you look just as tired as I am. You been travelin' long?"

"No."

"But long enough. Give your horse and yourself a break."

"Fine."

Relieved that William finally agreed, the two of them dismounted from their horses and started up a fire. Lilly plopped herself down next to William and she almost burst out laughing when she saw him scoot away from her a little.

"So, what does your daddy need help with?" Lilly asked him. "You were kinda vague back there."

"None of your business."

"I just made it my business. What's he need help with?"

William resisted the urge to smack the girl. He didn't because his father would kill him if he found out that he hit a girl, but she was really getting irritating. He had never met a girl like her before and that was definitely a good thing. If there was more than one girl like her somewhere, the world would explode.

"He and some others are deliverin' Ben Wade to Contention to put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma Prison."

" _The_ Ben Wade? The outlaw? I can see why you want to help him. How are they ever gonna handle him and get him all the way to Contention? He's got that huge posse led by Charlie Prince, and they won't let your daddy and whoever else is with him get him on that train. Are you sure they can do this?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm goin'."

"You close with your daddy?"

"I guess so."

"Is it just you and him, or…?

"No, it's me, my pa, my ma, and my little brother, Mark."

"And y'all get along?"

"We get along alright."

"That must be nice. I never met my mama. I was told she just up and left and never came back. All I had was my daddy and he never really liked me. I know he always wanted a boy to become a man like him, so I was this big disappointment. You're lucky you have those people in your life. It's more than I ever had."

William looked at Lilly for a second, realizing that perhaps she wasn't exactly as bad as he thought. Living without a mom and with an unloving dad couldn't have been easy and explained a lot of her behavior. But that didn't mean he was happy about traveling with her. He'd still much rather be alone.

"Hit the hay, William," Lilly said. "We can get goin' in the mornin' and find your daddy. I can't believe he's got Ben Wade."

Lilly turned over and put her hat over her eyes. William did the same and he fell asleep thinking about his father and even more about the girl lying next to him. He wondered how easy it would be to kill her while she was sleeping…


	2. Joining the Group

"William."

No response.

"William."

Still nothing.

Lilly took her bag and threw it at his head. "Ow, what?!" he cried as he bolted up, holding his head. That was the last straw and he didn't care what his father said. He'd hit her back for that. But he stopped when he looked up at her.

Lilly quickly put her finger to her lips. "We gotta move," she said quietly but firmly. "Now."

William noticed that she was constantly looking around her, and he was willing to bet that she must've seen something that wasn't good for either of them. As quietly as they could, the two teenagers scattered the remains of their fire, packed up their bags, and mounted their horses.

"Come on, Dakota," Lilly urged quietly.

They were soon on the move with William leading the way. He noticed that Lilly kept nervously checking behind her every few minutes and she didn't say a word for a couple hours. At first, he soaked in the silence and was thankful that she had decided to shut up. But after a while, the silence became unbearable.

"So, what did you see that made you so nervous?" William asked her.

"A couple Apaches," Lilly answered. "They were huntin' and I didn't want us to be what they were lookin' for."

"How did you even know they were there? I didn't hear anything."

"I told you I've been out here for a couple years. When I stay outside, I have to be a light sleeper unless I want to get killed."

William felt like there was more to it than that by the tone of her voice, but he decided not to press it. "You're a very surprisin' girl, Lilly."

"Thanks. I try to be."

"Do you really?"

"No, but I just don't want to be one of those wimpy girls who can't do anything. I want to be able to take care of and fend for myself. Apparently that's a good thing if I'm gonna be meetin' Ben Wade and maybe Charlie Prince."

"I didn't say you could stick around once I find my pa," William said sharply. The sooner this girl went away, the better his life would be. And quieter.

"I don't remember ever lettin' on that I would listen to you."

Once more, he resisted the urge to throw her off her horse. After all, she had warned him about the Apaches and she easily could've just left him there. "Don't you ever do what anyone says?" he asked angrily.

"Not really. I figure I know what I can and can't handle and if I get hurt, well then that's no one's fault but my own."

They continued to ride on and it looked like William wanted to ask her a lot more questions, but none ever came.

"So," Lilly said, "now that you've asked me a ton of questions, can I ask you some?"

"Even if I say no, you're gonna ask 'em anyway, aren't you?"

"Now you're catchin' on," Lilly smiled. "Why didn't you just go with your daddy when he left?"

"He wouldn't let me. Said I was too young. I'm gonna prove him wrong."

"So you're ridin' after him even though he told you not to." Lilly smiled wider. "You've now earned my respect."

"You're okay with me breakin' the rules? Don't girls hate it when guys break the rules?"

"I've broken so many of them, I don't even know what rules are. I consider them more of a…challenge."

William continued to follow the trail that the others were taking. Before long, Lilly recognized where they were headed.

"William," Lilly said warningly. "We're enterin' Apache territory."

"Turn back now if you're scared," he said without looking at her.

"I ain't scared."

William smiled a little hearing the uneasiness in her voice that told him she was lying.

"I was just makin' sure you knew. It's not like I haven't crossed some of them in my time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you have."

When William didn't respond, she knew that she was right. She just hoped he knew what he was really getting himself into.

William was a bit surprised when she said she had had some run-ins with the Apache. There was no way a girl was able to fight them off, even if she did say she was tough. There was a lot she wasn't telling him, and he didn't like that. If he had to listen to her talk, he at least wanted her to tell him something important.

When they rode a little further, they saw a sight that made Lilly's stomach churn. Two dead men were tied to a couple of rocks, beaten and bloodied and obviously tortured. Lilly paused for a second and saluted to the two men in reverence.

A very faint whinny turned their attention to the right. There were four or five horses riding along the ridge.

"Is that your daddy and them?" Lilly asked William.

"Yeah, that's them."

"Thank goodness. I'm not sure how much longer I can travel with a stubborn little boy like you."

William sent her a death glare, but Lilly just kept right on smiling. "Do you ever wipe that stupid smile off your face?"

"Only when there's nothin' to smile at. Like when I actually paid my respects for those men while you just kept goin'."

"Whatever. By the way, I won't call you a little girl if you don't call me a little boy."

"Fair enough."

William was about to say something more when they both heard some commotion coming from the group of riders they had seen. Lilly urged on Dakota while William urged on his own horse. They quickly trotted over, careful to not let themselves be heard approaching. Once they got closer, they silently urged on the horses, taking it one step at a time. A man, who Lilly assumed was Ben Wade, had someone in a chokehold and was pointing a shotgun at the other men who were atop their horses, frozen in place as they tried not to get shot. Suddenly to Lilly's shock, Ben took his captive and flung him off the cliff to his death. Seemed all the rumors she had heard about Ben Wade's awful disposition were correct.

"Now I think it's time for everybody to go home," Ben said, still pointing his shotgun at them.

William dismounted from his horse, grabbed his own pistol and aimed it at Ben's head. "Don't you move, Mr. Wade. Let go of that shotgun."

One of the men, who must've been William's father, looked at him angrily. "William, what are you doin' here?" he demanded.

"Now, I don't think you gonna shoot a man you admire in the back of the head, boy," Ben smiled.

William shot a bullet past his ear to let him know that he meant business and pulled the hammer back once more as he prepared to shoot. Lilly raised her eyebrows in appreciation. The boy had guts.

"Dan, tell your boy it's over!" Ben said.

"You think you can keep your gun on him, William?" Dan asked his son.

"I'm doing a dang sight better than you did."

Looked to her like William didn't talk to his family any better than he talked to her. She was right about him needing an attitude adjustment.

Dan dismounted from his horse and retrieved his shotgun. Then Ben slowly set down his own shotgun and Dan took it away from him. Ben sighed a little in defeat and he was lead back to his horse.

Lilly chose that time to move Dakota and bring William's horse around. "Nice move," she said to William with a smile.

"Who's this?" Dan asked.

"It's Lilly," William answered for her.

Lilly smiled, pleased he had gotten her name right.

"Met her wanderin' around when I was comin' here."

Dan looked at Lilly. "I think it's best you went home now, miss."

"Please don't call me miss," Lilly said. "Don't worry, I won't be any trouble. But y'all could use a pair of extra eyes. Trust me. I'm familiar with Ben Wade and his crew. Y'all need all the help you can get."

One of the men with a weird mustache and a stupid hat looked at her condescendingly. "What kind of help could you be, little lady? We've had dozens of men try to stop him and they haven't succeeded."

Lilly dismounted from Dakota and looked at the man. "Oh, so you think that because I'm a girl, I can't be of any help? I can't do any damage to someone else?"

"That's right."

Lilly nodded a little as if thinking about what he was saying. Then she motioned him over with her index finger. He walked over to her after dismounting with a snide smile on his face. Without warning, Lilly swung her foot up and kicked him as hard as she could in the worst place for a man to be kicked. His eyes bulged as his face turned red and he fell to the ground in pain.

"Anyone else?" Lilly demanded from the remaining men. They all looked at her incredulously, but none dared speak up. "Look, I'm not sayin' that I want to take over. I just want to help. I have my own gun and my own knife so I'm not completely helpless. And I've gotten into some scrapes with some Apaches before, so I know how to fight them. I won't be a hindrance to you, I swear."

"I like her," Ben said. "You're mighty fine."

"Don't talk to me," Lilly said without looking at him. "You don't deserve that luxury."

Lilly was sure that she saw a small trace of a smile crack across Dan's lips. Well, at least he seemed to like her.

"Some luxury," William muttered. She decided it best to ignore that remark.

"Now," Lilly continued. "Shall we continue to waste time arguin' about me or shall we get this lousy lowlife to Contention?"

No one said anything so Lilly handed William the reigns to his horse and then mounted onto Dakota.

"Hey, William," she said quietly as they began riding. "Your daddy ain't bad-lookin'."

William looked at her. "He's married."

A disgusted look crossed Lilly's face. "I didn't mean it like that! Gross!" For the first time, William smiled a little. "Well, what do you know? He's capable of a smile. You should smile more."

"You should smile less."

Lilly rolled her eyes. This was certainly going to be an interesting ride.


	3. Camping Out

Lilly ended up riding next to Dan as they pushed on to Contention.

"How'd you meet my boy?" he asked her.

"I was out ridin' last night and he came up to me wonderin' why I was out. We was headin' in the same direction, so we just ended up ridin' together."

"Your parents are okay with you ridin' out late at night? Aren't they expectin' you home?"

"I don't have a mama, and my daddy wanted a boy, so he don't care so much about me."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's the ways of the world, Mr. Evans. You can either accept it and move on, or waste time complainin' about how life could be better."

"Looks like you've got your views all straightened out."

"Once I came to terms with the fact that I didn't have a mama, I decided that I didn't want to be like every other girl if they were just gonna leave in the end. I just wanted to do what I wanted and that was to ride my horses and wear some comfortable clothes that don't squeeze the life out of me. People keep raggin' on me for not bein' a proper lady, but that's not who I want to be. I want to earn the respect of the men I'm seen around and be seen as an equal, not someone who cooks and cleans and does everything for the men. I want to be my own person."

Dan looked at her. He had never seen a girl like her before. It didn't escape his notice that she was about William's age. He wasn't sure how he felt about the two of them lying close together the night before. Hopefully, they had both used their best judgment. Judging from the look on William's face, he didn't particularly get along with Lilly, so he figured he had nothing to worry about.

"So, why aren't you goin' where you was headed?" Dan continued. "Why are you helpin' us here?"

"Well, like I said, y'all need help gettin' Ben Wade to Contention. I figure I can take a few days time out of my way. I have to ask you, aren't you concerned about Charlie Prince comin' after y'all? I'm surprised y'all even got this far."

"We thought about that. Yesterday, we tricked them into thinkin' that we were sendin' Ben Wade off in a carriage for prisoner transport. Not sure how far it got, but it should definitely be enough to keep him off our trail for a while."

"That's…really smart. Y'all just may get him on the train without any trouble from his posse if you get there quick enough."

"That's what we're hopin' for."

Before long, night fell and the traveling group all made a campfire and lied down around it to get warm and try to rest before they were off again the next day to get Ben on the train.

Lilly sat next to William as he took out a deck of cards and started shuffling them over and over again.

"No," Lilly said, taking the deck from him. "If you want a good shuffle, you gotta do it like this." She proceeded to show him what they called the 'bridge shuffle'. She performed it for him several times, quick as lightening each time. Then she handed him back the deck with a suave smile on her face. William didn't look pleased that she was better at shuffling than he was, but she really didn't care.

"Either of you ever been to Dodge City?" Ben asked the two teenagers.

"No," William answered coldly. Lilly shook her head.

"Stop talkin' to them," Dan ordered.

"They way you're both shufflin' those cards, I took you for pros."

"I practice a lot," William said to him.

"It's the only thing my daddy ever showed me how to do, so I was gonna try to make him proud. Before I realized there wasn't nothin' I could do to make him proud, short of becomin' a boy."

Everyone looked at her. They were all slowly seeing just why she was such a tomboy and acted so tough. She just wanted that approval from her father.

"You look mighty familiar," Ben said to Lilly. "We ever met before?"

"I think I'd remember meetin' Ben Wade," Lilly said coldly.

"It's the eyes and the hair. I know I've seen that somewhere."

"Well, you haven't seen me before. I can promise you that, lucky for me."

There was a bit of silence before William asked Ben, "You ever been to Dodge?"

"Yes, indeed. Meanest, most beautiful dirty city there ever was. Saloon was just overflowin' with cattle drivers, and road agents, prospectors, gunslingers, gamblers, and women. Women who'll do things to you you'll never forget."

"They'll give you a disease you'll never forget," Doc Potter interjected.

"Not sure if I'm supposed to be offended by that or not," Lilly muttered.

"Sorry."

"Money in your pocket in Dodge City," Ben continued, looking over at William. "You can have everything a man ever wished for. Everything a man comes to need. I got there on my own as a boy not much bigger than you."

"And how many men you killed since then, Wade?" Dan demanded. "How many families you destroyed?"

"Quite a few," Ben admitted.

"Is it true that you dynamited a wagon full of prospectors in the Western Territories last spring?" Doc Potter asked him.

"No, that's a lie. It was a train-full."

William cracked a small smile again and Dan was obviously not very happy about that. William didn't seem to care. Lilly had to admit that Ben could make conversation pretty well enough though his topics left something to be desired. But that didn't change all the bad things he had done before. She would be quite happy to see him off to Yuma Prison.

"Well, Dan," Ben said standing up. Everyone grabbed their guns and held them at the ready in case he tried anything. Instead, he just looked at Dan and said, "I gotta take a leak."

Dan got up from the fire and the two men went into the woods so Ben could do his business.

"Miss Lilly, what are you doin' out here?" Doc Potter asked her. "It's dangerous."

"Don't call me 'Miss Lilly'. It's just Lilly. And I'm just tryin' to find my own way. This is just a detour. A nice detour. It's good to be travelin' with some other souls after I been on my own for a couple years. Even if one of them is an outlaw and the others don't respect me."

She looked at Butterfield as she said that last part. He looked away from her guiltily, though she attributed his nervous actions to the fact that he just didn't want another kick delivered to him.

"We respect you," Doc Potter insisted.

"Could've fooled me. I know very well that pretty much none of y'all want me here because you think I can't handle any of this. But I can tell you that I've seen more tragedy in my sixteen years than any of you have seen in four at the best."

Doc Potter was about to inquire more, but the sound of gunshots forced them out of their quiet moment. All of them bolted up and grabbed their guns.

After a couple more shots fired, the two teens ran off to go find out what was going on and to help out Dan.

"William! Lilly!" Doc Potter called.

They got to the men and all Lilly saw was Dan on the ground.


	4. Lilly's Past

"Mr. Evans!" Lilly called quietly so as not to draw attention from the people shooting.

It had to be Apaches. She told William they were entering Apache territory.

She knelt down next to Dan and checked for any wounds. He was bleeding pretty heavily on his head where a bullet must've grazed him. The three of them got him up and raced back to their camp. Dan crashed down against the log and Lilly sat next to him as Ben loaded up a couple of guns.

"There's three of 'em," Ben said.

"Yours?" Dan asked.

"If they were mine, you'd be dead." Ben got up with his gun and started after them. William pointed his pistol at him.

"Give me that gun, Wade!" Dan called. "Wade? Wade!"

Ben took off with the shotgun. Dan turned over, blood pouring from his forehead. "Mr. Evans, you can't move," Lilly said. "You'll only make it worse." She looked up at the other men. "Watch him." Then she took off after where Ben had gone.

"Lilly!" Dan shouted. "Lilly, no!"

Lilly took out her gun and kept one hand on her knife in case she needed to whip it out fast. Some bullets flung past her, but most of them were aimed toward the camp. She found some Apaches up on a hill that overlooked the camp and she stealthily went up to them. Ben got there at the same time as her. His eyes widened at the sight of her and he looked kind of angry at first, but then he gave her silent orders that he would shoot two of them and she would need to take care of the other one. Lilly nodded and showed him her knife.

Ben sprang up and shot two of the Apache while Lilly snuck up behind the other one and stabbed him in the back.

Ben nodded to her in approval and the two of them headed back to the camp, having dispatched of all the shooting Apache. All the men were shocked to find Lilly returning with a knife in her hand that was dripping blood.

"I told you not to come this way," Ben growled as he returned.

"It was McElroy's decision," Doc Potter said quietly.

McElroy must've been the man Ben flung over the cliff when she and William first arrived.

"I told you there'd be trouble."

Dan and William aimed their guns at Ben who was still carrying the shotgun.

"Give me the keys to the handcuffs," Ben ordered.

Dan took the key out of his pocket and looked like he was about ready to give it to him. But then he chucked them out into the field of tall grass where they would be impossible to find even if it wasn't nighttime. Ben angrily lifted up his foot and it collided with Dan's face, knocking him out.

Lilly separated from the group a little to clean off her knife while everyone went over to Dan to make sure he was all right. Someone touched her on her back and she jumped a little. When she turned, she found William standing there with his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"That was, uh…really brave, what you did."

"Don't mean it was easy."

William looked at her hands and saw that she had a few bloodstains on them. But they were also shaking a little as she wiped the blood from her knife.

"You alright?"

She nodded, but didn't say anything. It was kind of strange for William to not see her smiling. She had been smiling since the second he met her, but now she just looked so…vulnerable.

"I'm guessin' that wasn't your first time doin' somethin' like that?"

She just shook her head and still said nothing. William put his hand on hers to get them to stop shaking.

Lilly looked up at him and it would be lying to say that she didn't feel some kind of…connection in that moment.

Her brow furrowed a little. "Where's Ben?" she asked as she looked around her.

William ran off into the grass to look for him and Lilly went back over to the men. Butterfield was sitting to the side and Doc Potter was looking over Dan.

Lilly tore off a small piece of her shirt and put it to the wound on Dan's head to stop the bleeding and clean it up a little. A massive bump was forming on his cheek where Ben had kicked him, but that would need something cold to get the swelling down and she didn't have that.

After a few minutes, Dan finally blinked his eyes open and looked around.

"Take it easy," Lilly said softly still pressing the cloth to his head. "You're pretty banged up."

"Where is he?" Dan asked.

"He's gone," Butterfield answered.

William came back through the grass looking really upset. "He took the horses with him. I found this in the grass." He was holding the shotgun Ben had been carrying.

"Wait a second," Lilly said. "He took off with Dakota?"

William nodded at her.

"I am gonna kill him."

William and Lilly helped Dan get up off the ground. She tossed the bloody rag she had used into the campfire.

"What's the quickest way out of the pass?" Dan asked of the others. "He'll be lookin' for help gettin' his cuffs off."

"We're goin' after him?" Doc Potter asked.

"Well, there ain't no reward for gettin' him halfway to that train, is there?"

The five of them put out the fire and started off to go find Ben Wade. Lilly ended up between Dan and William while Doc Potter and Butterfield lagged a little behind them.

"You know," Dan said to Lilly. "I think you've now earned the respect of all of us. Showed you got guts the way you went after those Apaches."

"Yeah," Lilly muttered.

"You said earlier that you'd gotten into some scrapes with Apache before. What did you mean by that?"

Lilly was silent for a little bit and the two of them wondered if she was going to answer. Finally, she explained, "I been travelin' for over two years now. Some time ago, I don't remember exactly when, I got into some trouble. Some Apaches captured me back when I was inexperienced and didn't know how to take care of myself. I was their prisoner for months on end. Or at least that's how long it felt. They did horrible things to me durin' that time."

She took a deep breath and lifted up her shirt sleeve to reveal several pale lines sprinkled all across her skin that couldn't have come from anything but a knife.

"There's more than that on my arms, legs, my back, and my stomach," she continued as she put her sleeve back down. "And they did more to me that I don't really want to talk about. So finally, after I couldn't take it anymore, I stole one of their knives and killed the one holdin' me captive. Then I took a rifle and shot maybe five of them and stabbed seven more. Then I freed Dakota and took off as fast as I could before they came after me. I can still remember the euphoria I felt as Dakota and I galloped away. I went into a town after travelin' for a while and bought myself my own knife and gun so I could be sure that I would never be captured again. I wasn't gonna let anyone think of me as a defenseless little girl any longer. That's why I knew what to do tonight with Ben. Because…I've done it before."

Neither Dan nor William could come up with any words at what Lilly had just told and shown them. They were in shock that an innocent teenager like her had already been through so much pain physically and mentally. And she continued to hide all that pain behind her smile.

William realized that this explained a lot of her actions. She must've been so nervous that morning when she was silent and jumpy because she was afraid that the Apaches she had seen were going to take her again and do more damage to her body. And she must've been shaking because all the memories from that time came back to her as she killed the man and cleaned off the knife. And he had been right about her being scared as they entered Apache territory right before they found Dan and the others. She must've been terrified about the risk of being captured again. William felt guilty for treating her so dismissively when she warned him about where they were. If he had known what she had been through, he wouldn't have been so cold towards her.

"Hey," Lilly said, her smile returning as she broke the silence. "It was a while ago. There's no use thinkin' about the past, or else we'll never clearly see the future."

"You're a girl of wise words, Lilly," Dan said to her.

"That's what happens when you're forced to grow up at a young age."

"Say, Lilly, you said you're still lookin' for a place to stay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm tryin'."

"Well, when all this is over, why don't you come stay with us at Evans Ranch for a little while? Maybe you can help work in the fields, and I might even be able to pay you for it."

"Are you joshin' me?"

"Not at all."

"That would be fantastic! And I'll help in the fields, but you won't need to pay me for it. My payment will be a bed to sleep in for the night and some food to keep me goin'. I won't take any of your money."

Lilly really liked Dan. So far, the only man she had ever had in her life turned out to be just one big displeasure, so she didn't have a very healthy taste of them. But Dan was so much different. She felt at ease with him and he made her actually feel wanted in this world. After suffering through things a young woman should never have to suffer through, she felt like she had finally found someone to take the place of the person who was supposed to be her father.


	5. Getting Ben Back

They walked all through the night before they finally reached a small camp on the mountain that Dan was sure Ben had gone to. Lilly was in dire need of some sleep, but she forced herself to press on and get Dakota back from that no-good thief. Not to mention they were due in Contention in just a few hours.

There were a lot of Chinese folks in the camp working their backs off. Most of them looked miserable and a lot of them were much too young to be working so hard.

"William," Lilly said as she lightly hit him when she noticed him looking at one of the workers. "Stop starin'."

He turned away from the boy he had been looking at and kept walking with her.

Butterfield put his arm on Dan and they all stopped walking. "Our horses," he said quietly.

"Dakota," Lilly said.

They walked a little farther where they found Ben Wade tied up onto a stake with his arms over his head. Some Chinese worker was pumping up some wires while some other cowboy was putting the charged up wires on Ben's exposed chest. Lilly had to admire him for barely making a sound when the wires touched his bare flesh with an audible singe.

"What is goin' on here?" Butterfield asked angrily.

The Chinese worker took out a gun and aimed it at him, stopping him from walking towards them any further.

"Mr. Butterfield," some older cowboy addressed. "All finished in Bisbee?"

"Mr. Boles," he answered coldly.

The Mr. Boles stood up and looked at the group. "Better hurry. We're makin' the last blasts through the mountains this week."

"That's my prisoner. I'm takin' him to Contention, puttin' him on the prison train to Yuma."

"What prisoner?"

Lilly was getting tired of this old man dancing around the obvious fact that Butterfield was trying to get across. She just wanted to take out her gun and mow down this man.

"Come now, Mr. Boles," Butterfield said, losing patience. "That's Ben Wade you have there."

"Ben Wade gunned down my kid brother in front of me six years ago in Abilene."

So now he was looking for revenge. Couldn't he just get his revenge by letting them put him on the train to Yuma? When people sought out revenge in their own ways, Lilly knew it didn't usually end well.

"Your brother was a lyin', bilkin' card sharp," Ben said smoothly.

Lilly couldn't help but roll her eyes. If there was ever a time for him not to talk, it was now. But that didn't matter to him.

"That is, if he's the deadbeat I remember. Could, of course, been some other deadbeat I killed that I forgot about."

Boles nodded to the other cowboy and he put the wires on Ben's chest again and left them on a lot longer than all the other times before. The Chinese worker continued to aim his gun at them while he kept pumping the electricity on the wires. Lilly winced a little as Ben shook and let out a small cry of pain. She put her hand on William's arm, and to her surprise, he didn't push her away.

"You can't do that. That's immoral," Doc Potter said firmly.

"Morals got nothin' to do with it," the young cowboy answered with a smirk.

Dan stepped forward a little. "I was expectin' to collect a two hundred dollar reward for that man. I'm deliverin' him to Contention. I need that money."

"Need it bad enough to die?"

Now Lilly wanted to shoot down both of these arrogant cowboys. The younger one looked over at her and winked as he clicked his tongue. William lightly pushed her behind him a little and Dan stepped in front of both of them. While she normally would've pushed them aside and told them that she could take care of herself, it felt really nice for a couple of guys to be defending her. She had never had that before.

"Don't look at her," Dan ordered. "Now, at least let us take our horses."

Boles looked at Dan hardly. "I got no problem with that. As long as you ride away, mister."

"Nice knowin' you, Dan," Ben said.

Dan turned to leave when Doc Potter suddenly rammed the Chinese worker right in the head with a shovel. Dan took that opportunity to whack Boles and another man in the face with his shotgun and Ben lifted up his feet and rammed the younger cowboy in the face. Ben lifted himself up and got unhooked from the pole he had been forced on.

Everything happened so fast after that that Lilly couldn't begin to explain what exactly went on. People started shooting at them, so Lilly took out her gun and shot back. William had gotten up on his horse and Butterfield was getting the rest of them that Ben had stolen.

Dan took Lilly's arm and the both of them went to the horses. Dan seemed to be pretty protective of her, and she had to say that she liked the idea of someone looking out for her.

"Dakota!" she called when she saw her beloved horse. "Good girl."

Lilly hopped up onto Dakota's back and the group all rode off through the mountain tunnels as fast as they could. Chinese workers scrambled out of the way to avoid being trampled by them.

"Did you see me get that one with the shovel?" Doc Potter shouted happily.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and Doc Potter slumped over.

"Doc!" William said urgently. "Doc!" He put his hand on him to keep him on the horse as they continued to gallop. Lilly turned to find Boles and the other cowboys riding after them with their own horses and guns. She took out her gun and shot at one of the younger one. He let out a shout and she knew she had hit him. Bet he hadn't seen that coming. That's what he got for trying to hit on her.

Dan and Ben gave William, Lilly, and Doc Potter an opening and they went through the tunnel first with the other two behind them.

"Dan!" Ben yelled.

Lilly slowed her horse a little and looked at what they were doing. Ben threw a roll of dynamite towards the tunnel and Dan shot it, making the tunnel cave in with Boles and the others stuck on the other side.

Lilly and William got Doc Potter off his horse and laid him on the ground. There was a huge bloodstain on his coat and blood was coming from his mouth, coating his teeth. It was evident he had lost too much blood, so trying to stop the flow would be pointless.

Dan ran over to them and knelt down next to the dying man.

"Did we make it?" Doc Potter mustered out. "Did we get away?"

"Yeah, Doc," Dan answered softly. "We did. Thanks to you."

Doc Potter smiled weakly and then went limp. Lilly looked at the others sadly. When Dan looked to the distance, she saw that Contention was just a few miles away from them. 3:10 wasn't much longer away. They could make it.

"We gotta get movin'," Dan announced.

"Wait," Lilly said softly. She closed Doc Potter's open eyes and looked over at William. "Help me." Together, the two of them moved his body over to the side by the rocks. Lilly saluted him, just like she had to the men they had passed the day before.

Then to her surprise, Dan and William came and stood on either side of her and saluted Doc Potter as well.

Lilly smiled at the bittersweet moment, and then she mounted onto Dakota. The group urged their horses on and finally arrived in Contention.


	6. Arriving in Contention

"We need a place to lay low," Dan said. "Keep him outta sight till the train comes."

Butterfield rode ahead a little then turned back to the group. "There's a hotel up here. I'll check us in. You ride around back."

"All right. Follow me," Dan said to the others. They rode to the back of the hotel, when he turned around. "Hey, William, you and Lilly go keep a watch at the railhead. If you see 'em comin'—"

"We'll let you know," William finished.

"And William?"

William turned and his father gave him an approving nod. He turned to leave and go to the railhead.

"Lilly?"

Lilly turned to face Dan.

"Keep him in line, will you?"

Lilly smiled broadly. "Yes, sir." She urged on Dakota and followed William to the railhead.

The two teenagers tied up their horses and then stood together keeping a strict watch on the land to make sure that Ben's posse wasn't coming after him.

"This has been quite the adventure," Lilly remarked as they waited.

"Was it what you wanted?"

"Yes, but not all the death that came with it. I could've done without that part." She paused a little before saying, "Hey, William?" He turned to look at her. "I gotta confess somethin'. That night we first met, I wasn't really goin' in the same direction as you. I just said I was because…well, because I was just tired of travelin' alone. I got nowhere to go. Nowhere at all. So when you told me what you was doin', I had to come along just so I had somethin' to do. I wanted real adventure. One that would prove I wasn't just some girl to shove in the corner. And…you were different than the rest. They all go out of their way to treat me nicer and then tell me how to live my life. You…were stubborn and rude and I loved it. You treated me like any other person. That means a lot. And...I maybe sorta thought that...you were kinda cute."

William looked over at her. His warm crystal blue eyes for once made her go weak at the knees and she suddenly had an overwhelming urge to kiss him.

He seemed to have the same idea because she saw his eyes gazing longingly at her lips and he slowly began inching his head toward hers.

Suddenly, a faint noise in the distance forced Lilly, much to her dismay, to break apart from him. "William," she said in a whisper. He turned around and saw a group of horses galloping straight for the tiny town of Contention at breakneck speed. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was on those horses.

The two of them raced back to the hotel room. William quickly knocked on the door. "Pa!" he called.

Dan opened it and looked at them.

"They're comin'," William stated.

Dan roughly pulled the two of them into the room and shut the door. Lilly saw that several more men were in the room, including the town marshal.

"They're comin' this way. We seen 'em."

"Where?" Dan asked.

"About a mile out. Same way we come," William told him.

"How many are there?" the marshal asked.

"Seven. Eight," he guessed.

"Which is it, boy? Seven or eight?"

Butterfield and Dan looked out the window. Butterfield looked back at them. "Seven," he said grimly.

The marshal and his men went downstairs to get everyone out of the building and guard it so Ben's posse couldn't break in.

Dan, William, and Lilly all went to the window and looked down at the people who were trying to steal their prisoner from them.

Lilly couldn't believe that she was looking down on none other than Charlie Prince. Some people considered him just as ruthless as Ben Wade if not more so.

"There sure are a lot of 'em," one the marshal's deputies said as he came back into the room and looked out the window.

"I didn't figure on it bein' the whole gang," the other said.

"The horses they're ridin' look about ready to die from exhaustion," Lilly added. "They must've been gallopin' straight through the night. They all have to be worn out."

"Boss," Charlie called up. "Boss! Boss, are you in there?"

Dan's eyes widened and he pushed William and Lilly away from the window. Lilly's heart began beating wildly, and she unconsciously grabbed onto William again. This time, he actually touched her hand in a comforting manner.

"What do you want me to tell him?" Ben asked Dan.

"You tell him you'll write him a letter every day from Yuma," Dan said firmly.

Lilly admired how he wasn't backing down from this. Ben laughed and stood up from the bed and went over to the window.

"You be careful, Wade," Dan warned. He and William readied their shotguns while Lilly kept one hand on her own gun.

"Charlie. Boys," Ben acknowledged as he poked his head out the window.

"Hey, Boss."

"Charlie, why don't you take the boys down to the saloon and buy 'em a drink?"

"You okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm just sittin' up here with my four new friends."

"Hey," Dan said from the side. "That's enough."

Charlie tossed Ben's hat up to him. "Thank you, Charlie. Boys."

Ben came back into the room with his usual hat on and then walked around and collapsed back onto the bed.

"Listen up!" Charlie barked. "Listen up!" he yelled even louder. "That's Ben Wade they have up there. Ben. Wade." A crowd started to form around him. This wasn't going to be good. "Now, the Railroad intends to put him on the 3:10 to Yuma and hang him."

"What's he doin'?" one of the deputies asked.

"We will give you two hundred cash dollars to any man who shoots any one of his captors."

Lilly's breath hitched in her throat and she clung onto William even tighter. In response, she felt his hand grab hers just a little more.

"How much?" someone called.

"Two hundred cash dollars guaranteed! Two hundred dollars guaranteed!"

Dan looked around the room at all the men. Then he looked over at William and Lilly. His heart went out to the girl when he saw the terrified look on her face. She had already been through so much fear and pain in her short life…

People began gathering around Charlie saying they would join him.

Then she heard, "Well, you gotta shoot 'em first."

They were dead. They were absolutely dead. People in this desperate town would kill for two hundred dollars and that was exactly what they were going to do. Lilly heard the sounds of multiple guns cocking and footsteps running to the hotel.


	7. Connecting

"There's gotta be thirty, forty more guns out there now," one of the deputies said as he looked out the window.

"Oh, enough of this," the marshal muttered as he headed to the door.

"Now just a minute, marshal," Butterfield said as he stepped in front of him.

"Look, look. If it's a fair fight, well, sure. I'd stay for that. A fair fight, that—that's a man's duty, but there's only five of us." He turned to look at Dan. "I'm sorry, mister, but I'm not gonna die here today." He turned back to Butterfield. "And neither are my men." Then he went out the door and left them there in that little room.

"Marshal," Dan called. "You forgot this." He tossed his little star-shaped badge back to him. The marshal caught it, stood there for a second, and then left once again.

"Marshal!" Butterfield called, slamming the door behind him as he went after the man.

Ben got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom sink. "Now, you see, Dan, generally, pretty much everyone wants to live. That means Butterfield too. He's gonna walk out on you. He's gonna come back up here, and he's gonna walk out on you. Now what you gotta figure is why you and your boy and this pretty little girl are gonna die. Because Butterfield's railroad lost some money?"

Multiple gunshots rang out outside from Charlie and the rest of Ben's men. They looked out the window and saw the marshal and all of his men gunned down dead in front of the hotel. A pointless surrender.

"Is that all of 'em?" Charlie called up to Ben.

"Almost," Ben called back. He looked over at Dan. "Your move, General."

"What do you expect him to say?" William asked.

"I expect him to say somethin' that makes sense. Somethin' that might save the three of you." Dan leaned against the wall. "Take a look, Dan." He didn't move a muscle. "What's the matter? You don't want see?"

"I'll see 'em soon enough," Dan said.

"What about you, kids? You wanna look?"

"You both stay away from the window."

"Go on. Take a look." William and Lilly inched forward enough to see the men standing guard on their horses. "Animals, all of 'em. They're gonna kill you and your father and your lady friend, William." Dan pushed the two of them back away from the window and from Ben. "They're gonna laugh while they do it. I think you know that."

"Call 'em off," William ordered.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're not all bad."

"Yes, I am."

"You saved us from those Indians."

"I saved myself."

"You got Lilly to help you kill 'em."

"She shouldn't have interfered. I could've handled them just fine."

"You helped us through the tunnels. You helped us get away."

"If I'd had a gun in them tunnels, I would've used it on you."

"I don't believe you."

"Kid, I wouldn't last five minutes leadin' an outfit like that if I wasn't as rotten as a rattlesnake."

Lilly looked over at Dan. His son really had a way with words. She had no idea he could talk down this criminal in the way he was doing at that moment.

She slowly walked over to the bed where he had sat down once more. "Why did you let me help you with those Indians? You gave me directions on which one to take down."

"I didn't want you messin' everything up and gettin' me killed."

She looked at him pointedly. "Have you thought of who I reminded you of yet?"

"No, and in a moment, I won't care about that no more."

There was a knock on the door. Dan went to answer it and there stood Butterfield. "Dan?" he said shakily. He came into the room and grabbed his bags. "I can't do it, Dan. And if I can't do it, you shouldn't do it either."

Lilly shook her head. Ben had been right.

"They say discretion is the better part of valor," Ben said with a smirk.

"If you think you have an obligation to me or to the railroad, I assure you, you do not. I'm releasin' you."

"It's just you left, Dan. Just you and your boy and the little girl."

If anybody called her 'little girl' or 'little lady' again, someone was getting shot. Ben seemed to notice her irritation because he smirked at her.

"Maybe he's right, Pa," William said to his father. "Maybe we should go home."

"Well, what did Doc Potter give his life for, William?" Dan said as he turned to face him and Lilly. "And McElroy."

"Little red ants on a hill," Ben said.

"I'll pay you the two hundred, Dan," Butterfield said desperately. "Right now. And you can walk away." He held out the cash for him to take.

Lilly looked up at Dan for his decision. The offer had to be tempting for him.

Dan actually chuckled a little. "You know, this whole ride, that's been naggin' on me. That's what the government gave me for my leg. A hundred ninety eight dollars and thirty six cents."

Lilly noticed William had a confused look on his face as Dan spoke. She guessed he hadn't known that little fact.

"And the funny thing is that when you think about it, which I have been lately, was they weren't payin' me so I could walk away. They were payin' me so they could walk away."

Lilly was more than a little confused at this point in the conversation, but she knew it was the wrong time to ask anyone to clarify.

"Don't muddy the past and the present, Dan," Ben said from his chair.

"No, no, no, Wade. I'm seein' the world the way it is."

"If you take him to the train, Pa, I'm goin' with you," William said.

"I am too," Lilly added.

"No," Dan said firmly. "Mr. Butterfield is takin' you both home. Lilly, you're goin' back to our ranch like I promised."

"No, I'm not goin' anywhere with him," William said adamantly. "Neither of us are gonna."

"Yes you are," Dan told him. "You need to watch over her."

"We're stayin' here with you."

"The three of you are gonna hold up in a room across the hall. You're gonna wait until we leave."

"I'll get them to Bisbee, Dan. I promise you," Butterfield said to him.

"Oh, you're gonna promise me a lot more than that, Butterfield. I want guarantees that Hollander and his boys will never set foot on my land again, and that my water's gonna flow. And I expect you to hand my wife one thousand cash dollars when you see her. You got money to spare."

"I can deliver that. Just get him on the train."

Dan turned to Ben. "You heard him?"

"I heard him," Ben said smoothly.

Dan turned back to the two teenagers. "William, I want you to give this back to your mother." He handed him a very expensive brooch. "I want you to tell her that it helped me find what was right."

"Pa," William said softly. "We can't. We can't just leave you."

"I'm gonna be a day behind the both of you, William. Unless somethin' happens, and if it does, I need a man at the ranch to run things, watch over Lilly, protect our family, and I know that you can do that because you've become a fine man, William. You've become a fine man. You got all the best parts of me. What few there are."

Lilly felt tears spring to her eyes, but she furiously blinked them back. After going through all the trouble of making herself out to be a tough girl, she wasn't going to blow it now. But the longer this moment dragged on, the harder it became to keep up her image.

"And you just remember that your old man walked Ben Wade to that station…when nobody else would."

William slowly walked away towards the door where Butterfield was standing. Dan looked over at Lilly and noticed her eyes were beginning to shine. She was fighting those tears back something fierce, but they threatened to spill down her cheeks at any moment.

"Lilly," he said to her. "If I ever had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like you."

Without a word, Lilly threw her arms around Dan's neck and hugged him tightly. She let the moment last as long it possibly could, unwilling to release from the hold she had longed for her entire life. Dan's strong arms went around her tiny waist and he hugged her back. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt two tears finally drip from her eyes.

Finally, she broke away from him and followed William to the door.

Butterfield took them to a room across the hall and the two of them looked at each other worriedly, waiting for some kind of noise or indication that Dan was okay.

"William," Lilly said softly out of earshot of Butterfield. "Look, I know you didn't like me very much on that day we first met."

William looked at her guiltily. "Lilly…"

"Don't try to deny it. I know you didn't. Anyone could see that."

She was right. He had disliked her a lot and he hadn't gone to great lengths to hide that fact from her. But now, here with her while his father was risking his life and knowing everything she had been through, he regretted every single nasty thing he had said to her.

"And that's okay," she continued. "I know I wasn't the best company and I'm sorry about that. It's just that…I don't have a very healthy taste of men. You know, with my daddy bein' like he is and all. So…I don't really know how to act around them. And I hide all of that behind a smile because it's just easier that way."

"Lilly," William said. "I'm the one who should be apologizin'. I was just like everyone else and figured that because you're a girl, you can't do nothin' that us guys can. But you've proven me wrong. I'm just sorry I was so awful when you had lived through complete hell because of the Apaches."

"William, it's fine. I don't care so much about that." She sighed heavily. "Look, I'm no good with talkin' about my feelin's, but…I just want to say that—"

She was cut off by the sound of gunshots piercing the silent air which made all three of them jump.


	8. 3:10 to Yuma

William and Lilly went back to the room where they had just been in and they noticed a copy of the Bible lying on the chair where Ben had been sitting. They took a look at it and saw that Ben had been drawing a very well-drawn pencil sketch of Dan looking out the window.

One second of eye contact was enough for them.

"You know," Lilly said, "we haven't done what we were told nearly the entire time we've been together."

William smiled a bit, knowing what she was getting at.

"Why start now?" she finished.

They both took out their guns and left the room. William rammed Butterfield and Lilly aimed her gun at him, daring him to stop them. The two of them raced down the stairs and went out the back of the hotel.

"You got a plan?" Lilly asked.

"No," William admitted. "But I'll think of somethin'."

"Alright. I'm gonna help your daddy. Maybe I can buy him some time by blockin' a bullet or somethin'."

"No, that's too dangerous."

"It's a chance to finally prove I've got what it takes. Make people see I'm more than just a girl."

William knew there was no changing her mind so he slowly walked forward.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"William?"

William turned to face her.

"Just in case."

And that's when Lilly took William's head in her hands and pressed her lips to his in a forceful yet passionate kiss.

It would've been a lot better if the situation hadn't been so dire. They parted and awkwardly smiled at each other for a second. Then they quickly left to go to their respective places when they remembered the situation they were in.

Lilly watched Dan and Ben collapse into a stockroom after Dan shot several people trying to kill him. Keeping an eye out and whipping out her gun, she raced to the stockroom herself as fast as she could.

Shots fired at her, but she was able to dodge them all and shoot back at her attackers. She managed to hit a couple of them which helped draw them off Ben and Dan.

When she caught up with the men in the stockroom, Dan aimed his gun at her instinctively. She quickly raised her hands up, and he was not at all pleased by who he saw.

"What are you doin' here?" he demanded furiously.

"If you really thought I was gonna listen to what you said, you ain't been payin' attention. I'm gonna help you if it kills me."

Dan saw no point in arguing further as that would just waste time when going up against a stubborn girl like her, so he took Ben by the arm. "We're gettin' you on that train, Wade."

"Your son went back!" Ben growled as he flipped Dan onto the ground. Lilly quickly ran next to him. "The boy's gone, hero. The lady might be here, but he ain't watchin' no more. You still got that one good leg. Why don't you use it to get on home?"

Lilly looked up at Ben angrily. Why couldn't he just make this easy on them?

"Charlie!" Ben called as he walked to the door. "Charlie Prince! Hold your fire! I'm walkin' out!"

Dan sprang up and grabbed Ben and flung him onto the ground. Unfortunately, Ben was able to get on top of Dan and he began to choke him by pressing the chain on his handcuffs against Dan's throat.

"Please stop!" Lilly cried. "He's the closest thing I've ever had to a father!"

"Well that's just too bad, ain't it?" Ben said with a strained voice as he continued to choke Dan.

Lilly aimed her gun at him, but he didn't seem to care about that.

"I ain't never been no hero, Wade," Dan choked out slowly. Lilly lowered her gun as she listened to what he was saying. "The only battle I seen, we was in retreat. My foot got shot off by one of my own men. You try tellin' that story to your boy. See how he looks at you then."

Ben looked down at him and after what seemed like forever, he finally removed the chain from his neck. Dan took heaving breaths and Lilly bolted over to him.

"Okay, Dan," Ben said.

"Mr. Evans, you'll be alright," Lilly said to Dan tenderly.

Ben's head whipped over to Lilly. "What did you just say?" he asked her.

"I said he'll be alright," Lilly said wondering why he was looked so surprised.

Ben looked at her as if he was studying her for a few moments. "What was your mama's name?"

"Anabella," Lilly answered, still confused as to why he was asking her such strange questions.

"I know why I recognize you. I knew your mama."

Lilly felt her heart stop. "What?" she whispered.

"Anabella. Most beautiful and kindest woman I had ever met." He looked to the distance, lost in his own memory.

Lilly's whole world came crashing down around her in a matter of seconds. "You knew my mama?"

"More than that. I loved her. I had never loved a woman more in my entire life. It must've been fifteen years ago now. I found her in this little town. She was there takin' a break from her life at home because her husband wasn't bein' good to her. She kept talkin' on and on about her beautiful baby daughter back at home."

A tear dripped down Lilly's cheek. All thoughts about her mother had been wrong.

"She planned to run away with me and her daughter, start over. She made me want to raise a family with her and settle down, forget about the past. We was all ready to do that too. But some people came lookin' for me. She got hit by a stray bullet. I held her in my arms as she died. That was why she never came home."

A couple more tears found their way to Lilly's face. All this time, she thought her mother left her with her unloving father for no reason, but now she found out that wasn't the case at all. All the horrible things she had thought about her mother came back to her. She had never felt so guilty before.

"I still remember the last thing she said to me. She looked me in the eye, and said, 'Ben Wade, you'll be alright.' You are just the spittin' image of her. Lilly, she loved you more than anything. Don't you ever forget that."

She nodded and wiped the tears from her face.

Now having a new understanding of one another, the three of them bolted up and took off across the roofs of the buildings, hopping from one to another.

"Boss, drop!" Charlie screamed.

They made it to the end of the roof. "Can you make this?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," Dan answered.

He took hold of Lilly's hand and the three of them jumped over to the next roof, slid down on it, and crashed to the ground.

"Come on!" Ben urged helping the both of them up. "Come on!"

They all ran as fast as they could, dodging Charlie and the rest of the men as much as they could. Dan and Lilly threw shots back towards them to stall them and keep them as far away as possible.

The three of them made it to the train station and were almost inside when a shot hit Dan and he fell to the ground.

"Mr. Evans!" Lilly cried. She and Ben quickly dragged him into the station before anyone shot him again. Ben dragged a huge desk in front of the window to block out the shots.

The three of them sat on the ground panting heavily from the long sprint. Dan was bleeding from several different wounds and all of them were worn out. Lilly looked at Dan's foot and she gave him a tiny smile when she saw that he had been shot on his bad leg. Lucky him.

"What…what time is it?" Dan asked the clerk who was cowering behind his desk.

"About ten past three," the clerk answered, looking at his watch.

"Where's the 3:10 to Yuma?"

"Running late, I suppose."

"How late?"

"Beats me. It gets here when it gets here."

"Those dang trains," Ben said with a smirk. "Never can rely on 'em, huh?"

Dan tried to load up his shotgun again as Lilly took another piece of her shirt off and wiped away the blood on his face for him.

"You know," Dan said quickly. "I ain't stubborn."

Ben looked at him with a face that made Lilly just want to laugh. "Excuse me?"

"You said I was stubborn for keepin' my family on a dyin' ranch."

Ben just continued to stare at him, waiting for him to continue.

"It's my son, Mark, the young one? He got tuberculosis when he was two. Doctors said he'd die if he didn't have a dry climate."

"Why are you tellin' me this?"

"I don't know," Dan shrugged. "I guess I just wanted you to know that I ain't stubborn is all."

Ben smiled at him and after a second, Dan and Lilly smiled back. The three of them just sat there, waiting for the train, and smiling at one another. Those few seconds were some that Lilly would cherish forever.

"Well," Ben said. "As long as we're makin' confessions…"

"Yeah?" Dan asked weakly.

"I've been to Yuma Prison before. Twice. Escaped twice, too."

"Well, do us all a favor," Lilly told him, "and stay there this time."

Once again, the three of them chuckled lightly.

"Lilly," Ben said to her. "I've seen those scars on your arms. Don't feel like you have to hide them. Those are your battle scars and will get you that respect you deserve."

Lilly smiled a little bit at his surprisingly kind words.

A train whistle sounded and there it was. The 3:10 to Yuma. They were so, so close. If Dan could just get Ben on there, he'd be safe.

Ben put on his hat and the three of them cautiously went over to the door.

"First car," the clerk told Dan. "Sliding door."

Several gunshots hit the door and almost hit Dan. Suddenly, the cattle escaped from the pen and began trampling Charlie Prince. Lilly looked out and saw William blasting his pistol into the air urging all of the cattle out of the pen.

"That's your boy," Lilly said to Dan.

Dan looked at her with a smile on his face. "That's my son." He turned to Ben. "Now."

Lilly stayed back as the two men raced from the station to the first car on the train with Dan shooting at as many people as he could on the way.

Dan tapped on the sliding door and Ben climbed up into the car and into the cell in the train for the prisoners.

"He did it," Lilly said whispered to herself. "He got him on the train."

Her smiled faded as she saw Charlie walking up behind Dan with his gun raised.

"DAN!" she screamed.

"NO!" she heard Ben yell.

Then a horrible gunshot rang out. Lilly watched in horror as Charlie Prince aimed his gun at Dan and fired a bullet into his back.

"NO!" Lilly screamed at the top of her lungs.

Charlie shot three more bullets into his chest and Dan sank to the ground, his blood tainting the yellow car. Ben climbed out of the train car and looked down at Dan.

Lilly watched as several people tossed Ben's old gun to Charlie who then tossed it to Ben. Ben made eye contact with Lilly and motioned with his head for her to come over. Her wide eyes questioned his motives, but when he gave her another calm look, she thought about the kind words he had spoken to her in the past few minutes and slowly walked out of the train station and towards him.

"Do not shoot her," Ben ordered.

Lilly walked to Ben as the eyes of his posse all bored through her. Her heart was pounding loudly and she feared for her life, not knowing exactly what Ben wanted. When she got to him, he handed her his gun without a word. She looked up at him and he gave her a small nod.

Her hand tightened around the gun so much, it started to tingle from lack of proper blood flow. First she shot all the other men standing around them and then she shot Charlie Prince a total of six times in the chest, one for each time he shot Dan and two more for the two hundred dollars that he was offering for someone to kill them all. If the fact that she just killed Charlie Prince, with Ben Wade's gun no less, didn't make men respect her, she didn't know what would.

She stared at all the dead bodies she had shot down. Ben gently took his gun away from her and that's when she quickly went over to Dan's body with multiple tears spilling from her eyes.

"Mr. Evans?"

His eyes were still open and he was hanging to his life by a small thread. William ran over next to her and looked at his dying father.

"You done it, Pa," he said softly. "You done it. You got him on the train."

"You're a hero, and you always will be. Especially to us."

Dan smiled weakly. William got up and furiously pointed his gun at Ben. Lilly watched as Ben just stood there, waiting for the shot to be fired.

"William," Lilly cried quietly. "Don't."

The shot never came. William lowered his gun and went back next to Dan.

"Pa," William said softly as he looked at the body of his dying father.

"Mr. Evans, thanks for being a daddy more to me in two days than my own ever was in sixteen years."

Ben took his gun and to everyone's shock, boarded the train. The train began moving and soon, his horse began to gallop next to it.

William and Lilly sat next to Dan watching the life slowly leave his eyes. They each took one limp hand and held it tightly.

"William, I want you to listen to me," Lilly said firmly. "Your daddy is a good man. The best I've ever met. Don't you listen to what anyone else says because he is a good man."

"She's right, Pa."

Dan weakly took the two hands that were holding his and placed them together. William and Lilly looked at each other. Then Dan's eyes closed and he was finally put out of his pain.

More tears slid down Lilly's cheeks and some even rained down William's.

"He always respected you," William said to her. "He didn't care that you were a girl. He respected you. I'm gonna do what he wanted, and I'm gonna take you back to our ranch. You'll finally get that permanent place you been hopin' for. That's all he wanted for you."

Lilly tearfully removed the hat from Dan's head. Then she took off William's hat and replaced it with Dan's.

"You look just like him," she smiled through her tears.

The two of them saluted Dan then they shared a very tight and tearful hug.

Dan had done it. But he had done more than just gotten Ben Wade on the train to Yuma when everyone else had backed out. He had allowed Lilly to feel what it was like to have a father who loved her.

And that was all she ever really wanted.


End file.
